Lower Bound on the Neutralino Mass from New Data on CMB and Implications for Relic Neutralinos

Abstract

In the frame of an effective MSSM model without gaugino-mass unification at a grand unification (GUT) scale, we set a lower bound on the neutralino mass based on the new WMAP data on $Ω_{CDM}$. Our lower bound, $m_χ \gsim 6$ GeV, leaves much room for relic neutralinos significantly lighter than those commonly considered ($m_χ \gsim 50$ GeV). We prove that these light neutralinos may produce measurable effects in WIMP direct detection experiments of low energy threshold and large exposure.

11 pages, 4 figures, typeset with ReVTeX4. Minor misprint corrected. To appear in PRD